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I was going to suggest physically cleaning the sensor on a regular basis, but that might actually worsen the "improvement algorithm overload" problem.

I assume this is a problem common with the iPhone 5s. Which leads me to believe that "maybe Apple should tweak the code" (or otherwise take action) to shift from "improving" the sensor's performance to "optimizing" the sensor's identification of a single user.

Whatever; I'm glad you got the issue sorted, but I think it's bad that you have to essentially do regular software maintenance on your iTouch. That's counter to Apple principles.

There's evidence this is a different situation though. There was a short phase before I reset where the right thumb was working about one time in 10. After three or four failures, rather than put in my passcode (because that is for animals), I'd go left thumb and it would work. Until this point, I almost never used the left thumb. Maybe one time in 1,000.

So, the clues are:

1) Never used print works fine
2) Always used print is useless
3) TouchID adds to its fingerprint database as you use it

Probable solution: Colonel Cook, in the iOS team leader's office, with a milestone.

When winter hit I noticed the reads got very inconsistent. Rather than trying to retrain it, I just registered my fingers as if they were additional fingers--keeping the originals, setting up another couple in finger slots 3-4.

I can only post my own experience, but its been working flawlessly for me for over two months now. I occasionally get a "try again," but that's when I'm holding my finger at a very odd angle.

I've seen elsewhere where someone suggested you wash your hands and set your preferred fingers (maybe 2 fingers) ... then get your hands a bit dirty (normal oil/sweat I mean) and set them again as three and four. I haven't needed to do it (I have a woman's hands, m'lord, and rarely get them anything more than greasy), but maybe that would help some of you other guys who are having the issue.

There's evidence this is a different situation though. There was a short phase before I reset where the right thumb was working about one time in 10. After three or four failures, rather than put in my passcode (because that is for animals), I'd go left thumb and it would work. Until this point, I almost never used the left thumb. Maybe one time in 1,000.

So, the clues are:

1) Never used print works fine
2) Always used print is useless
3) TouchID adds to its fingerprint database as you use it

This is precisely my experience too.

I reenter my most used digit about once a month.

Chris. T.
"... in 6 months if WMD are found, I hope all clear-thinking people who opposed the war will say "You're right, we were wrong -- good job". Similarly, if after 6 months no WMD are found, people who supported the war should say the same thing -- and move to impeach Mr. Bush." - moki, 04/16/03

I just wish you could set a brief period where you didn't have to re-unlock your phone, like you can with a more typical passcode. Sometimes I lock my 5S only to find out 10 seconds later that there was something else I needed to do. With all the Touch ID issues I have, it would be the bee's knees to not have to go through all the hassle of unlocking my phone if I literally *just* locked it.

"Yields a falsehood when preceded by its quotation" yields a falsehood when preceded by its quotation.

I can only post my own experience, but its been working flawlessly for me for over two months now. I occasionally get a "try again," but that's when I'm holding my finger at a very odd angle.

I've seen elsewhere where someone suggested you wash your hands and set your preferred fingers (maybe 2 fingers) ... then get your hands a bit dirty (normal oil/sweat I mean) and set them again as three and four. I haven't needed to do it (I have a woman's hands, m'lord, and rarely get them anything more than greasy), but maybe that would help some of you other guys who are having the issue.

Florida?

This lends credence to the theory this wasn't tested in places with actual weather.

My first imprint started to 'fade' (metaphorically) and became unusable after about a week.

Tried again, cleared everything. Second imprint also faded after about a week.

Third imprint, for some reason is going strong for a month now at least. No noticeable fade.

Maybe the quality of imprint matters and it's a random outcome of the imprinting process algorithm. Who knows what affects it? --The condition of your finger at the time, the position of the various fingerprint snapshots taken during imprinting, the ambient temperature and humidity.

Yeah, it sure did. My right middle finger gradually erodes, and I've retrained it a couple of times over the past few months. I just tried this technique and now my rt middle gets a hit every single time. (It was a challenge to get even the first hit when I started this, but gradually it got better & better.)

Because Leo's a dick, I stopped watching Security Now. Can someone provide a summary?

I have the feeling I did this soon after getting my iPhone. With two slots on my main print (right thumb). It still ended up dying. The first indications were in November, when the weather started getting cold.

If you're in a hurry, then computer security isn't for you. The shit's complicated.

Seriously, this is both the bane and boon of "new media". The normal paradigm is a show about computer security isn't done by the best computer security guy, it's by a TV guy who knows something about security.

Steve isn't a TV guy, but he knows his security. If the goods are important to you, he's got them.

Without seeing it, my guess as to the problem is Steve often thinks he's figured out some big mystery. For weeks he pimped he had found the secret to good health. It was a low-carb diet. We'd all kinda heard of that. He's a body-hacker, so he had interesting tidbits to add, but I felt like "I wasted an hour for this?" at the end.

OTOH, he invented (or if he wasn't the first, the only to public domain it) the SQRL system, which should eliminate user IDs and passwords for websites. This will not only make logging in much easier, and stop normies from using "12345" as passwords, it eliminates the website needing to store the password. The site gets hacked, there are no passwords to steal.

I know that. I'm trying to figure out why I typed that, since the OP didn't mention that he was dealing with an iPod Touch (and I think he's talking about an iPhone 5s). In any case, I appreciate your tact in pointing out my error.